Cartridge



R. A. ABELL I CARTRIDGE Feb. 18, 1947.

Filed Dec. 25, 1944 RBY LA-AEIELL Patented Feb. 18, 1947 UNITED srrss PATE'l (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as

amended April 30, 1928; 370 O. G. 757) 2 Claims.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

My invention relates to grenades, and its general object is to provide a grenade of the character described, adapted to be launched from small arms, such as a rifie, etc., in which the practicable range over the grenade now in use will be greatly increased and in which a greater degree of accuracy in striking a target may be obtained.

A further object of my invention is to provide a grenade of the character described in which a propellant-increment is positioned between the muzzle of the arm or the conventional grenade launcher attached thereto and a portion of the grenade body, which propellant-increment is functioned upon the discharge of the arm, and in which novel means are provided to protect the muzzle of the arm, or launcher attached thereto from injury when the propellant-increment is functioned.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a grenade of the character described in which the propellant-increment may be in the form of a novel auxiliary cartridge, adapted to be manually inserted in the grenade body when the grenade is placed upon the launcher, ready to be launched, and, since the propellant-increment is separate from the grenade and may therefore be packed and transported separately, there will be no increased risk of injury to personnel by premature functioning of the grenade, or by handling the grenade.

A still further object of my invention is to provide an auxiliary propellant-increment which will become effective immediately following the discharge of the arm, and which will continue and greatly increase the propelling force initiated by the gases resulting from such discharge.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character described adapted for use with present standard arms and accessories without the necessity of any alterations, by the mere addition of the auxiliary cartridge to conventional grenades, ground signals, chemical grenades, or other similar devices intended to be fired or launched from small arms, or the like.

A. still further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character described including novel means for effecting the functioning of the propellant-increment as well as to facilitate the incorporation thereof in a conventional grenade 2 for use with the well known grenade launcher now in general use.

With these and other objects in view, as will hereinafter more fully appear, and which will be more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, reference is now made to the accompanying drawing forminga part of this application, in which:

Figure l is a longitudinal, sectional view partly broken away and partly in elevation, illustrating my improved grenade and auxiliary cartridge therefor in loaded position on the conventional grenade launcher attached to the muzzle of a rifle; and

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view, in section, illustrating the grenade nose and detonating mechanism.

Referring now to the drawing, in which similar reference characters represent similar parts, a conventional grenade launcher IE is detachably secured to a rifle or the like 12 in a manner well known in the art. The grenade body i6 is threadedly connected, as at It to a tubular tail element I8, having the usual tail fin assembly 20, which element is adapted to receive slidingly thereon grenade launcher lb. The tubular tail tube I8 extends into the grenade body a distance sufficient to accommodate the launcher it and a cartridge-like container 22, here shown as an auxiliary cartridge, adapted to contain a propellantincrement 2 5. Container 22 is provided, in its base portion 26, with an annular opening 28, and positioned inside the container and overlapping the opening 28, there is an annular metallic disk 35). Secured through the central portion of disk 30 and in alignment with opening 23, is a firing pin 32, adapted to contact and function a primerdetonator 34, which primer-detonator is supported in alignment with the firing pin by an annular disk 36, which disk is maintained in position on the annular shoulder 38 of container 22 under influence of a bow spring member 4! centrally secured to disk 30 by the firing pin 32. It will be understood, of course that disk 36 may be formed integrally with container 22, if desired, instead of being a separate element, as shown.

The spring 60 serves the dual purpose of maintaining disk 38 in place and in maintaining the firing pin normally out of engagement with the primer-detonator 3d. The propellant-increment 24, which may be any desired suitable gunpowder or explosive, is maintained in container 22 by the side walls thereof and by disk 36, while the front end of the container is crimped over a retaining disk 42, in a conventional manner. The parts 22 to 40 constitute and may be termed an auxiliary increment cartridge, or auxiliary cartridge.

The grenade body, [4 may be filed with any suitable explosive A l, and has threadedly secured to its forward end a nose section 46 with an annular central opening 48, through which is secured an annular striker support 50, having a striker 52, and a flange 54. Flange 54 rides against the inside surface of that portion of nose 46 which surrounds opening 48 and is normally maintained in this position under the influence of coil spring 53, one end of which engages striker support 50, while the other end engages an annular partition 56 maintained in position between the grenade body and the nose portion by an annular shoulder 5'! on the nose section. Centrally positioned through partition 56 and in alignment with striker 52 is a second primer-detonator 58, adapted to function when struck by the striker 52.

Nose section 46 and striker support 50 are provided with transverse, aligned openings to receive, conventional safety pin 60, which serves to prevent the striker support and striker from moving until the pin is pulled, as is well known in the art.

In operation, the increment, if in the form of an auxiliary cartridge as shown, is inserted in the body of the grenade through the tubular tail l8 into position shown in Fig. 1. The tubular tail I8 is then placed over the grenade launcher IQ, which has previously been secured to a rifle or the like l2 in the conventional manner. Preferably a conventional grenade cartridge (which is a, blank cartridge) is then placed in the chamber of the rifle orother arm, and when fired, the resulting gases from the barrel of the arm act upon disk 30 with force sufficient to propel the grenade body with the auxiliary cartridge to a distance equivalent to that which the ordinary grenade now in use is conventionally propelled. However, the forcible contact of the barrel gases with disk 30 causes spring 40 to spread, and forces the firing pin 32 into firing engagement with the primer-detonator 34, which in turn ignites the propellant-increment 24, the combustion products of which greatly increase the acceleration of the grenade. It will be apparent that the gases resulting from the functioning of the propellantincrement will be prevented from entering the bore of launcher [0 or arm l2 by the metal disk 30, thereby preventing injury to the interior of either, as the case may be.

The safety pin 60, having been removed prior to launching, the striker support 59 of the grenade will depress on impact with the target, carrying with it the striker 52 which will function primerdetonator 58. The functioning of primer-detonator 58, being imbedded in the explosive 44, will 4 fire the explosive and grenade as is well known in the art.

When the grenade is launched, as above described, the container 22 will be carried away from the arm by the grenade, and if in the form of an auxiliary cartridge, will usually fall from the grenade during its flight, but no harmful effect will result if it remains in the grenade until the grenade bursts.

It is obvious that the invention is not confined to the herein described use therefor, as it may be utilized for any purpose to which it is adapted. It is therefore to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific construction as illustrated and described, as the same is only illustrative of the principles of operation, which are capable of extended application in various forms, and that the invention comprehends all construction within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. As an improved article of manufacture, an auxiliary propellant cartridge comprising a cylindrical casing, a propellant explosive therein, a closed front end, an annular disk supporting a primer-detonator adjacent the base of and within said cylindrical casing, an opening in the base of said cylindrical casing, an annular disk carrying a firing pin underlying said opening and within said cylindrical casing and means for normally maintaining said firing pin out of engagement with said primer-detonator.

2. As an improved article of manufacture, an auxiliary propellant cartridge comprising 2. cylindrical casing having a closed top, a base, an opening in said base, a movable disk carrrying a firing pin blocking said opening positioned within said cartridge, a partition carrying a primerdetonator adjacent said disk, means for normally maintaining said disk and said partition in spaced relation with said firing pin and said primerdetonator in axial alignment and out of engagement, and a propellant explosive in said cylindrical casing.

ROYAL ALLEN ABELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,463,993 Burt Aug. 7, 1923 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 492,055 French Mar. 1, 1919 186,287 British Sept. 28, 1922 

